Liquid dispensing and compounding device



Patented Feb. 19, 1935 PATENT OFFICE,

LIQUID DISPENSING AND COMPOUNDING DEVIC Julian o. Barreda and Harold J.McLaughlin,

New York, N. Y.

Application March 26,

5 Claims.

- This invention relates to liquid dispensing devices, and especially toa combined liquiddispensing and compounding device, the same being shownbut not claimed in our co-pending application No. '711,934, filedFebruary 19th, 1934.

It is well known that what is usually marketed under the name Milk, isin reality a compound or mixture of milk and cream; that the latter islighter, or has less specific gravity, than milk; and that the creamsoon rises to the top when the liquids are left for a while undisturbed;so, if the liquid-contents of the container are drawn through a faucetor outlet in absence of a compounding or mixing device, the heavierliquid will be drawn first, and afterwards the lighter will be drawn;the same being true with certain liquids besides milk and cream.

Therefore, one object of this invention is to provide a very efiectiveand practical means for compounding the liquids simultaneously with thedrawing or dispensing of the same, and without the employment ofstirring apparatus and power for operating the latter.

Another object of this invention is to provide the compounding member insuch position and of such form that air (entering to take place of thedispensed liquids) rises through the body of liquids at numerous pointsnear the bottom of the body of liquids, thereby agitating the liquidsand tending to cause them to blend with one another while beingdispensed.

Other objects and important features are pointed out or implied in thefollowing details of description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a view partly in elevation and partly in vertical section,illustrating the invention applied in an inverted milk-can whichconstitutes the liquid container and has a part of one side broken outto show the compounding tube in one of its forms, the upper part of thecompounding tube being in full elevation, while its lower part is incentral vertical section.

Fig. 2 is a detail view in central vertical section, showing a modifiedform of the compounding tube.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the compounding tube or tubular member shownin Fig. 2, but viewed from the right-hand side of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing in detail, wherein the reference numeralsapplied to the several parts are respectively referred toby similarreference numerals in the specification, the invention is described asfollows:

A liquid receptacle or container 5, as in my cc- 1934, Serial No.717,450 (01. 2Z167) pending application, is here shown in the form of aninverted milk-can having its cover '6 seated on a support 7 having anopening through which a dispensing spout 8 extends. In the partition 9,which forms the bottom of the container 5 and 5 the upper wall of ameasuring compartment, an opening is provided. A compounding tubularmember 11 or 11a is open at bothends and has its lower end secured tothe wall 9 in the relation shown, or in such relation that it providesan outlet from the container into the measuring rejceptacle, while beingsecured to every point of the margin of the opening 10 so no fluid orliquid can pass through said opening except that which passes throughthe lower end of the member 11 01' 11a.

The lower end of the compounding tube or member is formed with avalve-seat 12 in which a valve closure 13 operates to open and close theoutlet.

In the form of compounding member shown in Fig. 1, a seamless or truetube is provided with two graduated series of holes 14 and 14, eachseries being similar to the other in that the smallest hole is at thebottom, and the largest at the top, while the intermediate holes aresuccessively larger and larger from the bottom to the top. The holes ofone series are staggered in relation to those of the other series, andthe spaces or distances between the holes of each series are such thatthe holes of one series substantially overlap the holes of the otherseries, as is seen in the upper part of Fig. 1. By this arrangement, theliquid at the surface can flow through a,hole of one series or the otherat all levels of said surface in the container; so these two series ofholes constitute, in effect, a substantially continuous inlet of thetube 11, such inlet extending substantially from top to bottom of thetube. It is desired that these holes also serve as air-inlets for thecontainer, and to this end, the tube (11 or 11a) is inclined from itslower end to its upper end, and the holes are in the upper-inclined sideof the tube 11, so as the air enters through the lower end of the tube(to replace the dispensed milk or liquid), it tends to riseperpendicularly, and thus passes out of the holes that constitute theinlet for the liquid. From the holes 14 and 14a, the air rises throughthe body of the liquid in the container, and agitates the cream (on thesurface) so it will flow more readily toward and into the compoundingtube.

Instead of making the compounding member out of a tube, it may be formedof a blank of sheet metal so that its longer edges 11b are slightlyspaced from one another (as shown in Fig. 2) to provide an inlet or slot110 that extends substantially from top to bottom of this tube-like orsubstantially tubular member 11a whose bottom and top are actuallytubular, the top of the slotted part being expanded by a ring 11d, whileits bottom is a ring lle, these rings soldered or otherwise secured tothe intermediate main slotted part that includes the edges 11b. Theupper part of the slot 110 is wider than the lower part, to compensatefor the difference in pressure at the top and bottom of the liquid, andto compensate for the comparative thickness and immobility of the creamto that of the milk.

It is quite within the scope of this invention to substitute a singlerow of holes 14 or 14a for the two rows, and to locate the same wherethe slot 110 is shown; also quite within the scope of the invention tocut the slot lie in a tube that includes the part lie and eliminates thering 11d; so it is seen that the invention is not limited to the precisestructure and arrangement shown; for the invention is susceptible ofnumerous changes within the scope of the inventive ideas as implied andclaimed.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. In a dispensing and compounding device, the combination of acontainer for holding and dispensing liquids o! difierent specificgravities, said container having an opening in its lower end, a tubularmember having an open lower end fitting against all points of the marginof said opening while providing an outlet through the latter, saidtubular member extending substantially to the upper end of saidcontainer and having a substantially continuous inlet that extendssubstantially from its upper end to its lower end, whereby said tubularmember receives and dispenses the liquids of different specificgravities simultaneously.

2. The combination defined by claim 1, said tubular member beinginclined from a vertical plane that extends up from the center of saidoutlet, the said substantially continuous inlet being disposed in theside of the tubular member next to said vertical plane.

3. The combination defined by claim 1, said tubular member beinginclined and having an imperforate lower-inclined side and anupper-inclined side in which said inlet is disposed.

4. The combination defined by claim 1, said substantially continuousinlet being wider at its top than at its bottom and graduated in widthfrom top to bottom, for the purposes specified.

5. The combination defined by claim 1, said tubular member beinginclined from its top to its bottom and having an imperforatelower-inclined side and an upper-inclined side in which said inlet isdisposed, said substantially continuous inlet being relatively wide atits top and gradually decreasing in width from top to bottom.

JULIAN C. BARREDA. HAROLD J. MCLAUGHLIN.

